Gran Turismo 4

Vorlage:Dablink Vorlage:Infobox CVG Gran Turismo 4 (also known as GT4) was released on December 28, 2004 in Japan and Hong Kong (NTSC-J), February 22, 2005 in the United States (NTSC-U/C), and March 9, 2005 in Europe (PAL), and has since been re-issued under Sony's 'Greatest Hits' line. It is on DVD-9 format. After being delayed for over a year and a half by Polyphony Digital, and despite having its online mode removed, Gran Turismo 4 was still one of the most anticipated console games of 2005, and sold a million copies in its first week at Japanese retail. The game features over 700 cars from 80 manufacturers, from as early as the 1886 Daimler Motor Carriage and as far into the future as concepts for 2022. The game also features 51 tracks, many of which are new or modified versions of old Gran Turismo favorites, with some notable real-world additions.

A limited edition, Gran Turismo 4 Online test version, was released in Japan in summer 2006, and a PSP port entitled Gran Turismo 4 Mobile is in development, but isn't expected to be released until 2008.

Prologue

As GT4 was intended to be released in time for the worldwide 2003 Christmas release but was delayed, in consolation, Polyphony brought out GT4 Prologue as a sneak preview (including a documentary bonus disc) to the full experience of GT4. Though it was necessary to limit the number of cars and courses included, this product still included some of the main features of the Gran Turismo franchise such as races, time attack and license tests. The sneak preview also expressed the latest technology Polyphony Digital had accumulated over the past two years. Featuring 50 of GT4's then-planned 500 cars as well as five courses, this expanded demo was designed as a stop-gap until the complete version was released.

Game modes

A-Spec and B-Spec game modes

Players now accumulate points by winning races in the normal first-person driving mode, called A-Spec mode. Each race event can yield up to a maximum of 200 A-Spec points. Generally, a win using a car with less of an advantage over the AI opponents is worth more points. Points can only be won once, so to win further points from a previously-won event, it must be re-won using a car with less of an advantage over the AI. There are also the 34 Missions which can yield 250 points each. After a large number of events have been completed against challenging AI fields, a player's A-Spec point total corresponds somewhat to their skill level.

The new B-Spec mode puts players in the place of a racing crew chief: telling the driver how aggressively to drive, when to pass, and mandating pit stops (by monitoring tire wear, fuel level, and oil dirtying). The speed of the time in the race can be increased up to 3x, allowing for Endurance races to be completed in less time than would take in A-Spec mode. The 3x feature, however, must be turned on after every pit stop because it resets to normal time. The game manual says that the player may speed up B-Spec mode by up to 5x, but this capability is not available in the game.

B-Spec points are given out for each race completed in B-Spec mode. This increases the skill level of the AI driver in the categories of vehicle skill, course skill, and battle skill. Players can thereby use B-Spec mode in harder races as the game progresses.

Driving missions

Another new addition to the game is the Driving Missions, which are similar in experience to the license tests, but award successful completion with 250 A-Spec points and 1000 or more credits. Each mission takes place with a given car on a given track or section of track, and a given set of opponents.

There are 4 sets of missions: The Pass, in which the driver must overtake an opponent within a certain distance; 3 Lap Battle, in which the driver must pass 5 opponents over the course of 3 laps; Slipstream Battle, in which the driver must overtake opponents by way of drafting; and 1 Lap Magic, in which the driver starts with a significant time penalty against much slower opponents and must overtake them all in the space of a single lap. Completing each set of missions earns the player a prize car.

Hardware compatibility

GT4 is the first game on the PS2 to support 1080i resolution. It also supports 480p (NTSC only) and widescreen modes.

Despite the lack of online gameplay, GT4 does support use of the PlayStation 2 Network Adapter, which can be used to communicate with additional PS2s to create a multi-screen setup. In addition, the Network Adapter can be used to play games on a local subnet for up to six players, though player customized cars cannot be used in a LAN game.

Support for the Logitech Driving Force Pro and GT Force steering wheels is continued from Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec. Other "PC" steering wheels previously (and unofficially) supported in GT3 were explicitly disabled for GT4.

New support is given for USB storage and print devices used in Photo Mode.

Photo mode

The new Photo Mode is included in the game, which allows the player to control a virtual camera, taking pictures of their cars on the track or at specific locations, including the Grand Canyon. This game is able to produce a selection of screenshots with variable compression rate (Normal/Fine/SuperFine) and size (up to 1280x960 72dpi), and the user can choose to save or print to supported USB device.

Vehicles

GT4 continues in its predecessors' footsteps by offering an extremely large list of cars; the PAL version, for example, features 721 cars from 80 manufacturers. There are differences in the car lists between the different GT4 regional versions, and some cars have different names, e.g. the JDM Toyota Vitz is known as the Toyota Yaris in Europe. Some of the cars are multiple variations on a single base model; there are 20 different Subaru Imprezas, 25 Mitsubishi Lancers, and 48 Nissan Skylines. Each vehicle model has over 5000 polygons. Car prices range from about 4000 credits for basic 1980s Japanese used cars up to 4,500,000 credits for the top end (mostly Le Mans) race cars. Some special prize-only cars are not visible in the vehicle showrooms, and a few do not have corresponding dealerships, and thus are unmodifiable.

GT4 is responsible for a few vehicle firsts in the Gran Turismo series. It is the first to feature pickup trucks, such as the Ford Lightning and Dodge Ram. It is the first game in the series to feature the De Lorean, using the stage II spec engine (developed in 2004, hence the 2004 designation). It is also the first in the series to feature a diesel powered car, the BMW 120d; a special version of GT4 featuring this car, along with the rest of the 1 Series line, and three tracks was provided to BMW customers who purchased their 1 Series automobile before the release of GT4. While Gran Turismo 2 did have a one-off F1 engine version of the Renault Espace, GT4 was the first of the series to feature a production minivan, the Honda Odyssey.

The game includes some prize cars of historical interest, such as vehicles from as far back as 1886 at the dawn of the automobile. Their complex digital models run into limitations of the PS2 hardware,Vorlage:Fact however, and some of them are not usable in races. Even some modern cars with complex body shapes cannot be raced against opponents.

Comedian Jay Leno, an avid car collector, is listed in the game as a manufacturer; one of his custom cars, the Blastolene Special or "Tank Car", is included in the game as a prize car.

The 2022 Nike One has Morse code on the right hand side of the car. When reversed, this reads www.phil-frank.com, the artist commissioned to design this car for GT4. There is also some Morse code visible on the inside of all four tires.

GT4 retains all the familiar tuning parameters from the previous games in the series, but also allows weight to be added to the car. This can be positioned to affect handling, or merely used as a form of handicapping. Another new vehicle tuning addition is that of nitrous oxide.

Tracks

The game features 51 tracks, many of which are new or modified versions of old Gran Turismo favorites. Notable real-world track inclusions are the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Suzuka Circuit, and Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe; tracks modeled after world famous attractions such as New York's Times Square, Hong Kong, Paris, and Las Vegas.

The Hong Kong course is located in the Tsim Sha Tsui district, which at the clockwise route, starts at Salisbury Road, then through its waterfront and then at Nathan Road.

The Cittá d'Aria course follows actual roads in Assisi, Italy. The race starts/finishes in the piazza in front of the temple Minerva. Just before the start/finish line on this course, written on the tarmac is an inscription in poor Italian: "Dio lo benedice - fate il suo guidare il più sicuro e divertirsi" which translated means: "God blesses him; make his driving the most safely and to have fun".

On the Seattle circuit, the Kingdome, previous home of the Seattle Mariners, is visible next to their current stadium, Safeco Field. Kingdome was demolished in an implosion on March 26, 2000. According to the official strategy guide, it was added due to nostalgia.Vorlage:Verify source

A section of the Opera Paris course passing through Place de la Concorde was traversed by Claude Lelouch in the short film C'etait un rendez-vous.

The Real Driving Simulator

The Gran Turismo series has always attempted for the most realistic racing experience possible. 500 to 700 parameters define the driving characteristics of the car physics model. According to the developers, a professional driver was invited to set times using the same car on the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit, and the GT4 lap times were within 2% of the real life equivalent.Vorlage:Fact

Jeremy Clarkson, host of the Top Gear television program, performed a head-to-head test of real life versus GT4 on an episode of the program. He ran Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in real life in an Honda NSX for a lap time of 1:57. His GT4 lap time was 1:41:148.

Clarkson also had to be shown by a race driving instructor where the line was between the game and reality. He pointed out that adjusting one's braking mid-turn in a real car could cause loss of control, and also mentioned that in the game, he is compelled to take bigger risks than he would in real life, and that in the game, the car did not suffer from brake fade.

Despite the apparent controversy, in a column for The Sunday Times, Clarkson had this to say about GT4:

Criticism

Reviewers criticize the game for its continued lack of rendered damage. Instead of damage, the cars simply bounce off the walls or each other.

Reviewers complained of the continued ability to take unrealistic short cuts, such as the one on Fuji Speedway (90's) where the driver can cut right across the chicane, allowing a player to win by cheating.

The game has also been criticized for lack of online play which had been promised during early development, but was announced as being removed at the time of release.

The game lacks the established high-performance automotive brands of Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche. Ferrari cars are not included in GT4 because Ferrari has a history of being very protective of their cars' image, as well as having exclusive deals with Electronic Arts, among other developers (Microsoft, Sega).

Many reviewers expressed disappointment in the game's AI system, noting that "virtual racers will follow their (driving) line with little concern for where the human driver is at any one time." This is more evident during rally races and missions in which a 5 second penalty of driving only up to 31 mph (50 km/h) is given for hitting the AI or the barriers, even if the AI caused the contact.

Some critics found B-Spec mode to offer little to the overall experience. When Australian gaming magazine Hyper reviewed Gran Turismo 4, the reviewer commented that gaining credits was too easy in B-spec: just tell the AI driver to push hard and overtake, and if your car's good enough, you win.Vorlage:Verify source

Sometimes the guidelines for certain events seem inconsistent. One example is the Supercar Festival in the Professional Events section where it clearly states that only production automobiles may enter. However, upon trying to enter the event with a Cadillac CIEN '02 concept car it rejects your entry. This however is contradicted by the fact that the same model of car will sometimes be present and in some cases, even win the event.

Trivia

• Both the first release of the Japanese and Chinese version of the game was sold with a 212-page reference guide, with a message from famous car reviewer Reychiro Fukuno, an introduction to the physics of racing, lessons on using the GT Force Pro steering wheel, a machine tuning guide and parts catalogue, a tutorial for the photo mode from photographer Chikara Kitabatake, a race course index, a partial cars index and also a complete music index. The game and the guide were cased together in a special box of the same size as a DVD case. A similar guide was included with the first release of the Japanese Gran Turismo 3: A-spec.

• Due to the tight schedule for releasing the Chinese version, obvious textual errors can be found in the game, like the names for the two '90s used cars section being swapped, and the descriptions for the damper bounce and rebound also being switched. Other minor, but curious grammatical errors can be found.

• The Chinese version of GT4 failed to fix a bug that resulted in the game being left at 99.8% after all races have been cleared, because the Formula GT race was corrupted; thus, players were unable to unlock the final car at 100% completion. There is also a similar glitch in the North American version of the game. If the first driving mission is not completed first, before the other missions are attempted, the game will not record the mission as complete. Therefore the highest completion percent will be 99.8%.

• Advertising for GT4 was a task for the two teams to complete on the reality show The Apprentice.

Awards

• E3 2003 Game Critics Awards: Best Racing Game
• Included on Game Informer's "Top 50 Games of 2005" list

Sales chart

In December 2006, Polyphony Digital published the sales chart. It is unsure if South East Asia region (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand) includes China. It is unsure if Europe includes all PAL regions (Australia, New Zealand and Russia).

The thousands of "not for sale" Demo discs versions and Online test version are not included.

Gran Turismo 4 Prologue

• 790,000 Vorlage:Flagicon Japan (2003/12/04 ~ 2006/12)
• 410,000 Vorlage:Flagicon Europe (2004/05/26 ~ 2006/12)
• 110,000 Vorlage:Flagicon South East Asia (2003/12/04 ~ 2006/12)
• 50,000 Vorlage:Flagicon South Korea (2004/01/15 ~ 2006/12)
• 1,360,000 total sales (2003/12 ~ 2006/12)

Gran Turismo 4

• 4,870,000 Vorlage:Flagicon Europe (2005/03/09 ~ 2006/12)
• 2,630,000 Vorlage:Flagicon North America (2005/02/22 ~ 2006/12)
• 1,160,000 Vorlage:Flagicon Japan (2004/12/28 ~ 2006/12)
• 70,000 Vorlage:Flagicon South East Asia (2004/12/28 ~ 2006/12)
• 60,000 Vorlage:Flagicon South Korea (2005/03/10 ~ 2006/12)
• 8,790,000 total sales (2004/12 ~ 2006/12)

Soundtrack

The Asian releases of Gran Turismo 4, like its previous releases, feature the theme song "Moon Over the Castle", composed by Polyphony Digital's Masahiro Andoh, during the opening. The North American release replaces part of Andoh's composition with an edited version of Van Halen's "Panama". The European release features "Reason Is Treason" by Kasabian.

• A. Skillz – "Slip And Slide"
• A. Skillz – "Till The Break"
• ANTIDOTE – "Bullet"
• Apollo 440 – "Hold The Brakes"
• Apollo 440 – "Start The Car"
• Arlo – "Runaround"
• Bootsy & Friends featuring D-Greasy – "D-Greasy Rides"
• Bootsy & Friends featuring D-M.A.U.B. – "Let's Roll"
• Borialis – "Don't Mean A Thing"
• Chronic Future – "Apology For Non-Symmetry"
• Claude Debussy – "Clair de lune"
• Claude Debussy – "La fille aux cheveux de lin"
• Claude Debussy – "Reverie"
• Daiki Kasho– "Break Down"
• Daiki Kasho – "Good Days Bad Days"
• Daiki Kasho – "It's All About You"
• Daiki Kasho – "My Precious"
• Daiki Kasho – "Soul Surfer"
• Daiki Kasho – "What to Believe"
• Daiki Kasho – "Wicked"
• Deepsky – "Real Dream"
• Dieselboy + Kaos, Vocals by J-Messinian – "Nitro"
• Dirty Americans – "Car Crash"
• Eagles of Death Metal – "I Only Want You"
• Earth Wind and Fire – "Getaway"
• Erik Satie – "Gymnopediel"
• Erik Satie – "Je te veux"
• ETNICA – "Checker Flag"
• Feeder – "Shatter"
• Felix Mendelssohn – "Fruhlingslied, Op.67 No.4"
• Fischerspooner – "Emerge (Dave Clarke Remix)"
• Franz Ferdinand – "Michael"
• Franz Liszt – "Liebestraum III"
• Frédéric Chopin – "Prelude No.15 in D-flat major, Op.28 No.15"
• Hallucinogen – "Bubble'n Tweak"
• The Hives – "B Is For Brutus"
• James Brown – "(Call Me) Super Bad Parts 1, 2 & 3"

• Jeff Beck – "Hot Rod Honeymoon"
• Jet – "Rollover DJ"
• Jimmy Eat World – "Nothingwrong"
• Joe Satriani – "Summer Song"
• Johann Pachelbel – "Canon"
• Johann Sebastian Bach – "Air on the G string"
• Johann Sebastian Bach – "Jesus bleibet meine Freude"
• Johann Sebastian Bach – "Suite fur Violoncello Nr.1 C major, BWV1007"
• Judas Priest – "Freewheel Burning"
• Kaiser Chiefs – "I Predict a Riot"
• Kasabian – "Reason Is Treason"
• KOX-BOX – "Inside Every Man (There's a Machine Waiting to Come Out)"
• Less Than Jake – "Short Fuse Burning"
• Masahiro Andoh – "Moon Over The Castle"
• Modest Mussorgsky – "Pictures at an Exhibition Promenade"
• Mr. Natural – "Gameplan"
• Papa Roach – "Getting Away With Murder"
• Papa Roach – "Not Listening"
• Rock n Roll Soldiers – "Funny Little Feeling"
• Queens Of The Stone Age - "Go With The Flow"
• Saint-Saëns – "Le cygne"
• Snow Patrol - "wow"
• Stratus – "You Must Follow"
• Synthetic Moon – "Over The Castle"
• The Blasters – "So Long Baby Goodbye"
• The Commodores – "Machine Gun"
• The Crystal Method – "Born Too Slow (Deepsky's Green Absinthe Dub Mix)"
• The Donnas – "I Don't Want To Know"
• The Infadels – "Can't Get Enough"
• The Roots featuring Dom – "I Don't Care"
• Ulrich Schnauss – "A Million Miles Away"
• Van Halen – "Panama"
• Warren Suicide - "Trash Technology"
• will.i.am – "Drop On You"
• will.i.am – "It Don't Mean Nothing"
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – "Rondo in D major, KV485"
• Wylde Bunch – "Rockstar"
• X-ecutioners – "Ready To Rock"
• Yello – "Oh Yeah"

See also

• Gran Turismo 4 Online test version
• Gran Turismo (series)
• Tourist Trophy (video game)
• Enthusia Professional Racing

External links

• Gran Turismo 4 - Official Site
• Gran Turismo Europe - Fan site Europe
• GTPlanet
• GTChallenge.net - Fan site - Tournaments
• Official Gran Turismo forum - SCEA
• Gran Turismo Tuners Vault
• GT Fans Central - Fansite - Forum - Competitions
• Gran Turismo Series Center
• Vorlage:Moby game